I will shortly be going out of the country on vacation, so not wanting to risk getting mugged for my Kindle I have bought a paperback to take with me. Being the book worm that I am I can't seem to keep my nose out of it until the start of the vacation. In the process I have learned to appreciate some of the characteristics of electronic books that we all might take for granted: 1) I haven't figured out how smudge the electronic book pages , opened the paper back with a little grease on my hands and got it on the pages . I have never managed to do that with an electronic book and I can always wipe the grease off with a paper towel; 2) Got caught in a rain storm with the paper back today and I had to tuck it under and arm to keep it dry. Don't need to do that with an electronic book the reader is well protected and the cover does not seem to mind the rain. 3) Its a real thick paperback and take a lot of room in my book bag when I go to carry it on my commute . I have never seemed to need to do that with any of my electronic books . As said before I am learning to appreciate electronic books and what they can do for me.

I read a used paperback a week or so ago and I could hardly stand the small print which also happened to run too close to the gutter (spline). Thank goodness my iPad has no spline and I can bump the font size up so I can read it. Hey.. come to think of it... I can even make it white on dark for night reading...

Number 1 thing for electronic books to me would be that I can read whatever book whenever I see fit. Plus I can have a smooth wall of soundtrack to get me into library mood even amidst urban jungle savages.

I think it becomes easier to appreciate them once you actually get to use them. And, if you travel. I mean, if I did more traveling, I'd say it's worth it to grab an e-reader for the sake of saving on packing space since I'd bring a couple few books with me at any given trip.

From the moment I got my reader, I never finished a paper book anymore. I tried, but somehow I never did. It is more portable, easy-on/easy-off, takes less space, I have a new book available when I finish one and more.